Rev. Dr. Hedwig Dorothea Henrietta Bartling was born in Germany. As a young child, she emigrated with her family from Germany to Canada, settling in Saskatchewan, just a year before the First World War. In 1933, she was engaged by the Woman's Missionary Society (W.M.S.) of The United Church of Canada to work among the Ukrainian people in northern Alberta. In 1942, she went to Lethbridge to work among the Japanese-Canadian internees. After the war, Bartling worked first at the Chinese Christian Community Centre in Victoria, B.C. (1950-1951), followed by several years at Steveston United Church in Richmond, helping build the integrated Caucasian-Japanese congregation (1952-1956). Following three years at Queen's Avenue United Church in New Westminster (1960-1962), and studies at Union College, she was ordained. Hedwig Bartling died in 1993.
Robert Frederick ("Bob") Smith was born in Montreal in 1934. After receiving his B.A. from the University of Alberta in 1956, he earned a diploma in Theology at St. Stephen’s College (1958), a B.D. from the University of Alberta (1964), and a Th.D. at Boston University School of Theology (1973). He was ordained by the Alberta Conference of the United Church in 1958, and married Margaret Ellen Maguire that year. After ordination, he served in pastoral ministry at St. Luke's, Fort St. John, British Columbia (1958-1961); Trinity, Edmonton (1961-1965); Memorial Congregational Church of Atlantic, Quincy, Massachusetts (1965-1968); Richmond Hill (1968-1974); Eglinton, Toronto (1974-1982); Shaughnessy Heights, Vancouver (1982-1993); and First, Vancouver (1993-1998).
Throughout his ministry, Smith has served on numerous committees, including the Doctrinal Commission; General Commission on Church Union; Committee on Union and Joint Mission; Co-Chair of Roman Catholic-United Church Dialogue; the Committee on Theology and Faith; the Inter-Church Inter-Faith Committee, and the Division of Mission in Canada's Advisory Group on Residential Schools.
Smith has also served as head of several church courts: as chair of York Presbytery (1972-1974) and Toronto Area Presbytery (1977-1979); President of Toronto Conference (1981-1982); and as Moderator of the United Church of Canada (1984-1986). As Moderator, he made the Apology to First Nations Peoples on behalf of the Church in 1986.
Jacques Moon was born in Mundare, Alberta in 1922. He was a professional photographer and trained at Art Center School in Los Angeles. Moon lived in Squamish, B.C. during the 1950s and moved to Vancouver in 1962. His primary source of income was from his work as a purchaser for Pacific Great Eastern Railway/BC Rail. Moon was a long-time member of the United Church of Canada, attending Windsor United Church (Vancouver, B.C.) He died at Vancouver in 1997.
Rev. Fong Dickman, originally known as Fong, Tak Man, was born in 1860 in Yan Ping, Kwangtung [Canton or Guangdong], China. He came to Canada in 1884 to seek a better life. Initially Mr. Fong made a living by driving stagecoaches between Vancouver and New Westminster, B.C. While attending a mission school at night, first in New Westminster and subsequently in Vancouver, Fong developed a keen interest in Christianity. He was baptized at the Princess Street Methodist Church in Vancouver, and appointed to the Chinese Methodist Church in Nanaimo in 1898 as a missionary at large. At that time, his name was Anglicized to “Dickman.” In 1906, Fong Dickman was transferred to Vancouver to set up and produce the Wa-Ying Yat-Po, (华英日报, the Chinese-English Daily Newspaper, 1906-1909), one of the very early (if not the first) Christian newspapers in the Chinese language published in Canada. After 25 years of service, Fong Dickman was ordained by the Methodist Church of Canada in 1923. During his lifetime, he served in pastoral ministry at Nanaimo (1898-1906 and 1913-1921), Vancouver (1906-1913), New Westminster (1922-1930), and Edmonton (1930-1939). Rev. Fong Dickman retired in 1939, living in New Westminster until 1942, then residing in Vancouver from 1943 until his death on April 10, 1946.
Fong Dickman married Jane Chang in Victoria in 1899, and the couple had four daughters: Lavina Fong Dickman, who later became Lavina Cheng; Esther Fong Dickman; Anna Fong Dickman, who became Anna Lam; and Mary Fong Dickman (who died at a very young age). Aside from their loyal assistance with the church work, Anna was the first Chinese Canadian to become a registered nurse in B.C. and Esther, a school teacher in Vancouver. Mrs. Fong Dickman died in 1927. Beyond missionary work, Rev. Fong Dickman enjoyed creative writing, featuring early Chinese immigrants from his pastoral perspective. Rev. Fong Dickman was a philanthropist, who was noted to have supported a missionary in the city of Fat Shaan in Fong Dickman’s native province in south China.
Vera Bell (neé Lyon) was born December 2, 1933 in Clinton, Ontario. She took her nursing training at Victoria Hospital in London Ontario, graduating as an RN in the class of 1955. She arrived in Hazelton, B.C. in early 1956, serving for five years at Wrinch Memorial Hospital. In 1961, she moved to Queen Charlotte City, where she served as matron of the hospital for two years. She received midwifery training in Edmonton in 1963. She attended Covenant College (Toronto) in 1963-1964 before being posted to Portugal and Kenya. In 1971, she completed her Bachelor of Nursing at McGill University in Montreal, before marrying Alfred Bell, former auditor for United Church of Canada Hospitals. She was a She was a vital member of First United Church (Prince Rupert, B.C.) and Brechin United Church (Nanaimo, B.C.) Vera died November 14, 2020 in Nanaimo, B.C.
Chizu Uchida was born in Vancouver and attended the Powell Street Church (Japanese Mission) with her family until the internment of Japanese Canadians in 1942. She and her family attended the Japanese United Church in Montreal for a short while until returning to Vancouver in the mid-1950s. From that point, Chizu was a member of the Vancouver Japanese United Church, and a founding member of the English-Speaking Congregation in 1969. She served on the Church Board and also for a time as secretary of the national Japanese United Church Conference (Kyogikai). She died in 2017.
Deryl (Dal) James Michael McCrindle was born in Vancouver in 1945. He attended Union College and was among the first graduates of the Vancouver School of Theology (after Union College and Anglican Theological College amalgamated). McCrindle was ordained by B.C. Conference in 1972. He served charges in rural Manitoba (1972-1974) and Winnipeg (1974-1977) before returning to British Columbia. He continued in pastoral ministry at First United, Prince Rupert (1977-1985); St. David’s, West Vancouver (1985-1990); St. Andrew’s-Wesley, Vancouver (1990-1991); St. Giles, Vancouver (1991-1996); and St. Andrew’s (Haney), Maple Ridge (1996-2006). McCrindle served as president of BC Conference (1984-1985) and as chair of both Prince Rupert and Vancouver-Burrard presbyteries. After retirement in 2006, he continued his ministry, serving as an associate minister at West Vancouver and St. David’s United Churches and as chaplain to the Royal Canadian Legion in West Vancouver. While in the north, he was adopted by the Tsimshian community at Lax Kw’alaams and became a member of the “wolf” clan of that community.
Art Jones served as Financial Manager for BC Conference of The United Church of Canada, from 1983 until his retirement. He continued as a financial consultant for the Conference until his death in 2006.
Jim Chisholm's work for The United Church of Canada is most strongly related to the Metropolitan Council of Church in the Lower Mainland, where he served as Administrator (1969-1979), and to BC Conference, where he served as Conference Administrator (1979-1983).
Joanne Black was born April 28, 1931 in Saskatoon. She pursued theological studies at the Vancouver School of Theology and was ordained by BC Conference in 1987. She served charges in Bashaw-Mirror, Alberta (1987-1989); First United Church, Prince Rupert (1989-1995); interim at South Arm United Church, Richmond (1995-1996); and at Sharon United in Langley (1996-1997) before retiring. Jo was a life-long feminist and activist, and fought for Indigenous and LGBTQ rights. Joanne Black died on June 5, 2015.
Reginald Alfred Redman was born in northern England in 1898 and came to Canada as a child. He attended the University of British Columbia and Union College, and was ordained in 1926 by BC Conference of The United Church of Canada. During his ministry, he served the following pastoral charges: Port Alberni (1926-1929); Hatzic (1930-1931); Grace, Vancouver (1932-1936); Chilliwack United (1937-1948); First United, Vancouver (1949-1953); and Marpole, Vancouver (1955-1962). After retirement in 1962, he served as retired supply in Tsawwassen until 1965. He also served as Field Secretary (British Columbia and Alberta) for the Lord's Day Alliance in 1954-1955. Redman died December 12, 1987.
Joan Imai was a member of the Vancouver Japanese United Church English-Speaking Congregation, from 1971 until 1979. Her husband, Gordon, was the minister of the Lower Mainland Pastoral Charge of the Japanese United Church during that period. She and her husband returned to the Vancouver Japanese United Church after Gordon retired, and she remained a member until the English-Speaking Congregation closed in 2017.
Dr. Peter James Newbery was ordained as a United Church minister in 1966. He graduated from McMaster University in 1976 with a medical degree. In 1987, he became the Medical Director for United Church Health Services.
Kathleen How was born May 9, 1910 at Rouleau, Saskatchewan. She was a teacher at the Alberni Indian Residential School (1935-1937 and 1944-1947); Port Simpson (likely the Crosby Home for Girls, 1937-1940); Bella Bella (1940-1944 and 1965-1970); Kincolith (1948-1954); and Brocket, Alberta (residential school, 1954-1965). She died October 23, 1995 at Vancouver.
Arthur (Art) Anderson was ordained as a minister within the United Church of Canada by BC Conference in 1959. He was settled to Williams Lake, where he served until 1960. Anderson also served the following pastoral charges within BC: Oak Avenue, Surrey (1963-1965); Queen's Avenue, New Westminster (1965-1973); and Carman, Chilliwack (1981-1990). He also held administrative positions for BC Conference, first as Executive Secretary (1973-1980), then as Ministry Personnel and Congregational Support officer (1990-1996).
In 1959, Dr. George E. Darby became the first Hospital Coordinator for all of the United Church hospitals in Canada. Dr. Darby had just retired after forty-five years of service as the Medical Superintendent of the R.W. Large Memorial Hospital at Bella Bella. The Hospital Superintendent’s position was part time, reporting to the Board of Home Missions at the General Council office in Toronto. Dr. Darby died suddenly in 1962, and was succeeded by Dr. W. Donald Watt, who had previously been the Superintendent of Bella Coola General Hospital. Watt’s title was changed to “Superintendent of Hospitals and Medical Missionary Work,” and the position became full time. In 1972, the Board of Home Missions was incorporated into the new Division of Mission in Canada, to whom the Superintendent now reported.
In 1987, Dr. Watt retired and was succeeded by Dr. Peter J. Newbery. When Dr. Newbery took over the position, the title was changed to “Director of United Church Health Services.” In the late 1990s, oversight for the remaining United Church hospitals in British Columbia was moved to BC Conference, and the Director reported to the BC Conference Executive Secretary. Dr. Newbery remained as the Director until he was succeeded by Dr. Ray McIlwain in 2001. Dr. McIlwain had joined the R.W. Large Memorial Hospital in 1974, acting as its Administrator from 1979 to 1981 before becoming the Administrator at Bella Coola General Hospital. Dr. McIlwain stepped down as Director at the end of 2004. Dr. Newbery took up the role of Acting Director until November 2007 when Dr. David Arnold took over as Director. In 2008, the United Church Health Services incorporated into the United Church Health Services Society (UCHSS); the title of the position changed to “Medical Director” and reported to the UCHSS Board. In October 2011, Dr. Arnold stepped down as Medical Director. Thereafter the position was not filled; rather, each hospital in B.C. had its own medical director reporting to the UCHSS. In 2016, the Wrinch Memorial Hospital, the last of the United Church hospitals in B.C. was turned over to Vancouver Coastal Health.
Yoshinosuke Yoshioka was born in Sasebo, Japan in 1889. Mr. Yoshioka’s conversion to Christianity was influenced by the Rev. Toyohiko Kagawa of Kobe. He graduated in 1912 from Kwansai Gakuin University at Shizuoka, Japan, and was baptized a Christian by the Rev. Mr. Murai in 1914. He was ordained in the Methodist Church in 1921. Yoshioka married Hisa Misaki (1890-1975), then a primary school teacher, in Shizuoka, Japan, where they lived until they left for Canada. Yoshioka succeeded the Rev. Mr. Saito at the Japanese Methodist Church in Steveston in 1922 and served there for three years. This was followed by an appointment at the Japanese Mission on Powell Street in Vancouver (1925-1926). He completed theological studies at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, and earned Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Arts degrees. In 1929, he was called to the mission at the Japanese United Church in Kelowna, British Columbia, where he served until 1952. He went on to serve in Lethbridge, Alberta, where he died May 26, 1956.
The Yoshiokas had two sons, Edward and James. Edward Yoshioka was born in 1923. He attended Victoria University and Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. Having been ordained in 1947, he served as a United Church of Canada minister in several locations across Canada and as a missionary in Trinidad. He died in 1990. James Yoshioka was born in 1925. He earned a medical doctor’s degree from the University of Toronto in 1949; thereafter he practiced medicine in Montreal, Quebec, and Oakville and Toronto, Ontario until he retired.
Dorothy Yamamoto was a longtime member of the Vancouver Japanese United Church English Speaking congregation, until it closed in 2017.
Linda Margaret Ervin was born in Nova Scotia. She took her diaconal training at the Centre for Christian Studies in Toronto, graduating in 1973. After spending her first three years in a congregation in Calgary, she moved to Vancouver in 1976 where she served in mission ministry at First United Church for 11 years. Her role as founding member and president of the First United Church Housing Society would nurture a lifelong passion for social housing, in addition to other community advocacy and education, especially in women’s rights and women’s health issues. From 1987 to 1990, she served at Vancouver-Burrard Presbytery as part-time staff in Multi Cultural Ministry. From there, she was called upon to become part-time ordered ministry staff at Kitsilano United Church at a time of its amalgamation with St. James United Church into Trinity United Church, where she ministered until 1997. She later took a job in a mission partnership between Japan and North America. Upon returning to Canada, Linda applied her diaconal skills as a transformational educator, working to help congregations in B.C. and Alberta move through difficult transitions. In addition to her degree in Diaconal Ministry, Linda completed a Bachelor of General Studies degree at Simon Fraser University in 1989 (?) with studies in criminology, political science, and women’s studies. Prior to completing a Master of Theological Studies at St. Stephen’s Theological College in Edmonton in 2003, she served on its faculty, coordinating the Master of Arts in Social Transformation Ministry and the Diaconal Ministry degree programs.
The Rev. A.D. MacKinnon was a pioneer minister of the Presbyterian Church in British Columbia. He was born in Nova Scotia, attended theological college at Queens, and came to the Kootenay region of B.C. as a student in 1893. He was ordained in 1896 in Kamloops and served at Quesnel, where he opened the first Presbyterian Church in the Cariboo. He later served at Kitsilano Presbyterian Church in Vancouver (1913-1920) Williams Lake (1921-1941) and Peachland (1941-1946). Like many Presbyterian ministers of his generation, MacKinnon joined The United Church of Canada during church union in 1925.